Chapters 10-12

Question 1

Offred often sings in her head, why is this?

Answer 1

Music is forbidden in Gilead, and there is little of it in the Commander’s home.

Question 2

What does Offred remember reading in the newspaper?
(Ch. 10)

Answer 2

Women who were murdered and raped, but even in the old days it seemed distant from her life and unrelated to her.

Question 3

Offred has a pillow with a word embroidered on it - the only word she has to read. What word is it?

Answer 3

Faith.

Question 4

The Handmaids have monthly visits to a doctor. What do these doctors test for?

Answer 4

Pregnancy and/or disease.

Question 5

Offred covers herself with a sheet to hide her face, why is this?

Answer 5

The doctor isn’t allowed to see her face, or speak to her if he can help it.

Question 6

How does the doctor break the rules on Offred’s visit? (2 ways)

Answer 6

1 - He talks cheerfully to her throughout the visit.

2 - He then offers to help her, and says he can get her pregnant. He says ‘sterile’ men no longer exist.

Question 7

Why does the doctor saying he can help Offred scare her?

Answer 7

1 - The word ‘sterile’ shocks her, as sterile men no longer exist in Gilead, and the issue is barren women.

2 - She will receive the death penalty if caught.

3 - She has been given a way out.

Question 8

As she refuses she’s frightened, why?

Answer 8

The doctor could falsely report a health problem, and Offred would be sent to the Colonies with the ‘Unwomen’.

Question 9

While she’s in the bath, what does Offred remember about her daughter?

Answer 9

The authorities took her after a lady tried to kidnap her in a supermarket. Three years have passed since then, and Offred has no mementos of her daughter.

Question 10

What did Aunt Lydia say to Offred about getting attached to things?

Answer 10

Women should not get attached to things, and should “cultivate poverty of spirit.” Aunt Lydia cited the biblical sentiment “Blessed are the meek,” but she did not go on, as the Bible does, to add “for they shall inherit the earth.”

Question 11

If a woman can’t have children, what is she called? Why is the man never considered here?

Answer 11

If a woman fails to conceive, she is labeled “barren,” and no one considers that the man’s sterility may have been the reason due to the patriarchy.

Question 12

What does the mentions of declining birth rate suggest the Handmaid’s role is?

Answer 12

The references to declining birth rates, and the visit to the doctor all suggest that Handmaids exist to bear the children of their Commanders.